Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .300 Savage

picked this one up I think about a year ago when they were discontinued, it's a Savage 16 stainless in .300 sav. Just now got around to shooting it. haven't even taken the stickers off:



warne rings and bases, redfield scope. got the whole thing put together relatively cheap.

anyway, forgot the shooting bags, and the range is an hour away, so I had to shoot off the soft gun case like a dam hippie:



guess what, this gun shoots great. the barrel is free-floated to the point of looking slightly strange cause it sticks up so high out of the stock. accutrigger is an accutrigger ... but dang it if it doesn't break with no creep or overtravel at about 3.5 lbs.

load "development" was cake. I've got winchester brass, CCI 200's, Hornady 150 and 165 spirepoints.

it liked 44 g Varget and a 150 SP a lot:



it liked 40 g H4895 and a 165 SP:



hey, cut me some slack on that group. it's 9 or 10 shots, I can't remember, and I was shooting from the hippie improvised rest. the group started climbing when the barrel got hot.

it also likes 39.5 IMR3031 and a 150 SP. I didn't take a pic of that group, it was about like the Varget group.

100 yd groups, btw.

Great cartridge, functional rifle. I'm pleased. really like the cartridge a lot, actually. It's got enough thump to let you know it means business, but still very manageable recoil.

I'm gonna have to flip a coin to decide between the 150's and 160's.

(probably going with the 150's)

Nice rig. I picked up a Savage 110, blued/walnut with sights in .300 Savage a year or so ago. I got the scope zeroed at 100 yards but have not done any load development yet.

If you're not shooting deer at long ranges, the 170 grain Remington RNCL 30-30 bullets worked really well for me when I was shooting deer with the 300 Savage back in New England.

Not a hot rod by any means but a damn fine deer cartridge. The old 99's in 300 have been knocking deer over for eons and hitting 'em out farther than they have any right to. I bet she is a dream to shoot.
How do you like that Redfield so far? I've been contemplating on getting one.

My 300 Savages like the 150 gr SST bullet.

The cannelure is in exactly the right place to crimp, and it sure makes a pretty loaded round.

Love the mild-mannered caliber! Thanks for the post honoring the old girl!









DMc

Try 39 of 3031 or 41 of H4895 with a 168 match bullet. Or just use the 165 Hornady you already have. If your rifle is anything like my 700 Classic then either of those loads will put a big grin on your face.

Love me some 300 Savage.

Try 130gr Barnes TTSX in front of 44grs of H4895.

I have a Remington 7600 in 300 Savage made in 2007 that I still haven't shot yet. I have been half tempted to get rid of it, but can't bring myself to do it. It goes well with my 257 Roberts and 35 Remington 7600's. Old cartridges in newer guns.

Dale

brinky: the Redfield is ... functional. I can't tell the difference between it and a VX-1. it's not near as bright and clear as the new VX-2's, but it is MUCH better than the old Redfield Tracker I have.

mathman: I was curious how the case would handle a 168 A-Max. it has a SHORT neck. I haven't tried it yet because I wasn't sure if there would be enough case capacity to put powder behind it. now you've got me interested, though ...

Run DMc, your gun is purtier (and lighter) than mine ...

Steelhead, I've seen those purty .300 sav's you load. very nice

257, dont sell that thing. give it a whirl, i think you'll like the cartridge

Yep, I used Scott's recipe and both my .300's liked it!

How short/long can you load them according to the rifle's magazine and throat? The SAAMI spec doesn't mean much to my 700 Classic.

Mine loves the 168 grain Berger VLD seated out a way. That makes a badass looking little cartridge.

Has been my favorite cartridge here in the brush for decades.... give 43 grains of H4895 with your 150 SP's a try. The 130TTSX load listed above shoots really, really well....

I started there, too, only I used plain ol' TSX's. I ended up with the best groups at 43.6 grains, & a bit of a jump. It yields sub moa at 2960-ish fps, and it's just a joy to shoot in the 722 that 300jimmy sent my way. I figured that rifle would be but another .30 caliber dalliance of mine, but it will be one of the last 2 to ever be pried from my possession.

I've only dispatched a teenaged sow with that load (spectacularly, BTW...), but I'm thinking it would also be quite competent on some much bigger game.


FC

I passed up an excellent 722 in .300 at a pawnshop outside Ft. Bragg, a long while back. I had a BDL in .308 already, and just couldn't see owning so similar a round (especially when all that "free" 7.62 brass was lying in large piles on post.... Another gunshop had a whole bunch of .250 and .300 Savages in M77Rs on a rack in the middle of the showroom floor, too, and I still couldn't see why I'd need one, as I already had a .243......

Oh well, age and grow, I suppose. Ya can't own 'em all. Typically short-sighted youth...........

I wish I would have kept my dad's old Redfield 2x7 widefield that sat atop his pre 64' M100 .308. The whole rig would be nice to have with the advent of a quality bore brush. Where I hunt there still are a lot of folks beating the brush with the .300 and .250 for that matter in their 99's. They do just fine on big bodied deer and black bear. PM me your addy, I have a partial box (14) of .300 savage empties laying around getting in the way. Once fired Winchesters I believe. I could get them out after my fishing trip to the Big Two Hearted and Fox up in gods country. Still have some signal on the i Phone thankfully.

Very nice of you to offer the brass to someone! Classy!

DMc

I picked up a 700 Classic a few years ago. 4x Leupold in Weaver rings looks classic, too. 44gr RL15 and 150gr Sierras make little bitty groups with mild recoil. A fun gun and cartridge. Just need a deer to step out when I'm carrying it.

While I never shot an animal with the 300, I played around a bit with an old 760 I had. Sold it in hopes that one day they would make a 7600 in 300 and sure enough, they did.

My dad and I are both still kicking ourselves for letting a 700 BDL in 300 Savage get away from us. A guy was walking around with one at a gunshow for $500 several years ago. It was gorgeous! Ugh!! We still both wish we would have bought it.

Dale